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Ed Willes: Seattle breaks ground on KeyArena project

Ed Willes

Published: December 6, 2018 - 6:38 PM

They broke ground on the KeyArena project in Seattle on Wednesday, and say this for the dream team of billionaires and superstar executives who will bring NHL hockey to the Emerald City: They haven’t exactly embraced the concept of under-promising and over-delivering.

“When people see what they’re building here, they’re not going to believe their eyes,” says Tim Leiweke, CEO of the Oak View Group, the overlords of the megaproject. “This will be something the likes of which the city hasn’t seen.”

Yes, today Seattle, tomorrow the world.

“We have an incredible opportunity to make Seattle the epicentre of hockey in the Pacific Northwest,” says his brother Tod, the CEO of the hockey team, which is interesting because last time we checked, the Pacific Northwest included Vancouver.

In this computer drawing provided by the Oak View Group, the planned appearance of the interior of a remodelled KeyArena is shown in Seattle.

But why not think big? Given everything that’s happened over the last couple of months, Seattle and its newly minted NHL team could promise a Stanley Cup in Year 2 and the city would lay out the parade route. Tuesday, they were awarded the 32nd NHL franchise. Wednesday they began, symbolically at least, work on a US$800-million renovation to Key, which will transform the city. And there isn’t a person connected with the team or the NHL who doesn’t think Seattle will be a runaway success.

Put it this way. They’re still almost three years away from their first game and, already, they have more stable ownership and a better front office than the Canucks.

There is, in fact, so much to like about this operation and its potential to change the sports landscape in our corner of the world. Still, when you get beyond the wow factor and Seattle’s glamorous entry into the NHL, there are more than a couple of pointed questions the new kids will be facing.

Principal among these concerns selling hockey in a market that isn’t really a hockey market. Again, the NHL and the city have placed blind faith in the Leiwekes and their well-heeled ownership group and that faith, at this point, is justified.

Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee, right, and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan talk with former Seattle SuperSonics head coach Lenny Wilkens following a ceremonial groundbreaking of a renovation of the arena at Seattle Center Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018.

But it could be that the next three years aren’t going to be as easy as they’re making it look right now.

“We need more rinks,” says Russ Farwell, the vice-president of the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds who has been involved with the junior team for 30-some years. “That will make long-term fans. There isn’t really a grassroots experience here. The real fans are people who’ve moved here from other places.”

Farwell can speak on this subject with some authority. Beginning in the mid-’90s, the Thunderbirds spent over a decade playing out of KeyArena after it had undergone a massive renovation to accommodate the NBA’s SuperSonics.

That reno, sadly, left the T-Birds with just barely big enough room for a sheet of ice, obstructed seats in the lower bowl and a score clock that hung comically over the blue-line. Ten years ago, they decamped to the southern suburb of Kent, where they’ve established a solid fan base at the 6,500-seat ShoWare Center.

“It was a slow, painful death,” Farwell says of his team’s existence at KeyArena.

OK, $800 million can fix a lot of problems, as the new team is anxious to demonstrate, but that still leaves the matter of trying to establish a hockey culture in this huge market. One of the main selling points for Oak View is a $70-million practice facility at Northgate Mall, and the three sheets of ice it will provide are sorely needed. Farwell points out there isn’t one public indoor arena between Kent and Tacoma.

Former Canucks defenceman Jamie Huscroft, meanwhile, is the director of operations for Sno-King, the largest hockey organization in the Seattle area, which boasts, ahem, 600 players in competitive programs. He told The Seattle Times there are essentially six or seven rinks in the Seattle area and there’s a waiting list to join the Sno-King program.

Admittedly, the target audience for the new venture is less hockey moms and dads and more Amazon-employed hipsters who live in the city and won’t blink at NHL ticket prices. But, at this moment, the hockey team sets up as the fifth sports ticket in this market behind the Seahawks, Huskies football, Sounders and the Mariners — remember, the baseball team has a couple of years to get its act together — and that’s a consideration. So is the traffic congestion in the South Lake Union area that will be KeyArena’s new home. And while we’re being Debbie Downer, what happens if the NBA decides it wants to return to Emerald City?

Again, Oak View and the various notables have considered all that. They’ll point to the 33,000 season-ticket deposits and the market of 3.5 million, the largest American market that doesn’t have a winter sports team. They’ll also tell you they have three years to reach those fans and they have $1.5 billion invested in that goal.

Right now, they have momentum on their side. Unfortunately, that momentum attracted Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who promised Wednesday that there would be a heated rivalry between the Seattle team and the Vancouver “Canooks.”

But look at the bright side. Like the hockey team, he has time to work on his game.